Saturday, February 18, 2012

Greetings from LA! (That's "Lower Alabama" in these parts.) We reluctantly left Louisiana and headed east through Mississippi to that little part of Alabama that touches the Gulf of Mexico. After spending a couple of nights catching up with fellow traveling friends in nearby Summerdale, we traveled a few miles south to Bella Terra Resort in Foley. We've enjoyed this spacious, beautiful site for just over a month...already!

Bella Terra is a lovely park with a staff of professionals who are committed to ensuring that every guest enjoys their experience here. We sure have!

With around 100 sites, Bella Terra is a nice size for us. It's small enough that you have the opportunity to meet all of the great people who are staying here, yet large enough to have nice amenities like this hot tub, infinity swimming pool and beautiful pond. The resort is just over halfway completed. When it is, this beautiful park will have about 175 sites. As much as we love staying in more rustic settings, like state parks, every so often it's fun to park our moose in a swanky place.

With views of beautiful sunsets like this through our "Imax" window, we're resisting the temptation to buy one of the lots that are currently for sale.

We're not the only ones who are enjoying those sunsets. This is our boy kitty's favorite spot at the end of each day.

The first couple of weeks of our stay were pretty much a blur. We were both knocked out with a big, bad nasty bug that made all of this stuff a daily necessity for awhile.

As soon as we could emerge from our sick beds, we headed straight to Gulf Shores and checked out the beautiful white sand beach, which is just a short drive from the resort. We look forward to spending more time exploring this area.

By the time Super Bowl Sunday rolled around, we were fully recovered from our bugs and ready to participate in the resort's viewing party and chili cookoff. Paul's very tasty batch was there in the lineup. It was the first time he's ever entered his chili in a "competition", and he tied for second place!

As avid geocachers, we were delighted to discover there's a noteworthy swarm of geocaches placed not far from here. North of I-10 between Bay Minette, AL and Muscogee, FL is a 50-mile stretch of US highway and county roads that is home to some 200 caches. (That's a lot of caches!) We took advantage of a beautiful February day to take a run at this run. About half of the caches were these little tubes hanging in trees and bushes. The other half were a bit easier to find.

By the end of the day, our finely tuned geocaching eyes were spotting those little tubes from across the road! (So, I didn't even get out of the Jeep!)

Our total number of geocaching "finds" for the day was 67, which is a personal best. This second to the last find of the day turned out to be a milestone, marking our 900th since we started our geocaching escapades in 2006.

We are definitely seeing a promise of Spring here in Lower Alabama. The weather has been generally mild, and since our arrival there's been more than enough rain to bring these beautiful Tulip Magnolias into bloom.

With all of that rain, we've managed to keep ourselves busy with inside activities. Determined not to take on another hobby, I went to a bracelet making class in the clubhouse and came home with a new addiction: crochet. (How did that happen?) My first completed crochet project was a little basket to hold kitty toys. So far it's serving its purpose and hasn't become a toy itself, yet.

Paul took advantage of a sunny afternoon this week to start the process of washing and waxing the moose. It's a big job, which he quite wisely spreads over a few days.

Of course, what happened after he finished his first phase of this big washing job? More rains came! However, the forecast calls for sunny days in the future. (We're keeping our fingers crossed!)

After 24 hours or so of soaking rain, thunderstorms and wind, Mother Nature treated us to another stunning sunset yesterday.

With less than a month left in our stay, we're looking forward to more fun in LA. And, it all starts tomorrow. That's when these Mardi Gras "newbies" are boarding a bus to Mobile to spend what promises to be a fun-filled day at America's oldest Mardi Gras party.